Fair Grounds: Tipthetrolleygirl shortens up for Friday turf sprint

Brad Cox has made an admirable recovery since his stable was decimated – reduced to just two horses – when he was laid off in August 2012 by the Midwest Thoroughbreds powerhouse. Cox won 42 races in 2013 and has rebuilt his stable to almost 30 horses, with most awaiting the Oaklawn Park meet and another half-dozen stabled at Fair Grounds in New Orleans.

One of those Fair Grounds holdovers is a filly named Tipthetrolleygirl, who will cut back to 5 1/2 furlongs Friday in a wide-open allowance feature.

“I’m just trying something different with her, really,” Cox, 33, said this week from Oaklawn in Arkansas. “Both of her wins have been around one turn, and even though she has the looks of a horse who’ll go long, she’s only been picking up the pieces. Maybe this will wake her up.”

Tipthetrolleygirl, with Ricardo Santana Jr. to ride, is listed as a 4-1 program favorite in the eighth of 10 Friday races. Eleven were entered, with only 10 permitted to start, assuming the race stays on the grass.

Cox makes his permanent home in Louisville, but like many Kentucky horsemen, he is compelled to travel elsewhere during the winter months. A former assistant to Dallas Stewart, Cox said he “couldn’t have gotten back to where I am” without the support he has received from clients over the last year and a half. His stable earnings for 2013 were $873,881, only some $50,000 shy of his career high since he began training nine years ago.

Other logical contenders in the Friday feature include either of the uncoupled Grant Forster duo of Sweet On You and Happy Everafter; Lemon Hero, with Shaun Bridgmohan riding for Steve Asmussen; and Book Club, seeking local improvement for Wayne Catalano.

The purse is listed at $46,000, although that includes a $5,000 slots supplement for Louisiana-breds.

Three other allowances or optional-claiming races also are carded for Friday, when first post is the regular 1 p.m. Central. The eighth is scheduled for 4:22.

◗ A field of 14 female turf sprinters is entered for Saturday’s $75,000 Pan Zareta, most notably Good Deed, who will be making her first start since earning an eye-catching 110 Beyer Speed Figure in June.